This piece I found at The Blaze just breaks my heart. It hits very close to home, because as you know, my dear friend Dave “Thirdwavedave” Logan just lost his battle with leukemia ten days ago.
I watched both videos, and saw that this young man Eric found himself in the same God-awful situation as Dave did when he was diagnosed in February, 2007. Like Eric McLean, Dave also never refused new and untested clinical trials, first the chemo drug Gleevec, then the newer and more experimental Tasigna, and finally a bone marrow transplant that came with no guarantees — but lots of hope.
Even the strongest men cry. Fighting man Dave cried too, tears of fear, discouragement, and unrelenting pain. And when we cried together, I wanted to hold him and rock him in my arms to comfort him. I can only hope my voice carried 3,000 miles away through the phone so he could feel that.
I cried again as I watched this young man share his fear, his anguish, and pain through his videos. It was Dave’s intentions to also videotape his progress, but he became so sick early on, he never could. And so, in a way, this is Dave’s heart rending story too. My prayers go out to Eric and his family, to my dear friend Dave and all who knew and loved him, and to all the leukemia sufferers who are facing the same heart-wrenching decisions that hold no guarantees. May God bless you and give you strength and courage as you all walk thru this vale of tears.
‘THE BALLGAME IS OVER GUYS’: CANCER PATIENT POSTS TEARFUL GOODBYE VIA VIRAL VIDEO BLOG
Eric McLean was diagnosed with leukemia in 2003. His illness has been a roller coaster of getting well and only to relapse several times.
Now, McLean has been told his condition is officially terminal.
McLean first began filming his “confessions” — video blogs — and posting them on YouTube in 2009. He talks about his condition, the treatment and everyday life. Watch McLean’s first confession:
Over the following years, he filmed more than 40 confessions taking you through his ups and downs. On Tuesday, he released his final confession.
He starts his last video post as he did many of the previous ones, saying “what’s up,” introducing himself and providing the date. Then McLean breaks down when he begins to share the title of this video — “Eric’s Confessions Final”. He films this last video in the same place where he shot his first, bringing it full circle saying, among his tears, “because this is the end.“ McLean provides the heartbreaking news to his followers detailing the devastating extent to which his cancer has spread and saying ”I’m in some of the worst pain you can imagine.”
He continues thanking those who have supported him and his family throughout his illness. He says that for someone with his type of cancer, the expected survival is 18 months — he battled for nearly 10 years. He seems at a loss for words saying he doesn’t know what to do.
“God, is it scary,” he said. “There is so much I want to say, so much… I’m 28 years old. I’m going to miss everyone. My family, brothers and my sister, my parents, my wife Carrie. I love you so much, babe, I love you so much.
“I tried so hard. I fought so hard. But the fight is over.”
McLean thanks Harley Davidson, the company he worked for as a program analyst. He calls it the “best company in the world.”
“I love you all. That’s it.”
“My doctor says I won. I won. I got to believe him. There’s nothing else I could have done. I fought to the end. I never said no. Anytime we wanted to try a new experimental drug or whatever it was, I stood up to the plate, I swung my bat as hard as I could. The ballgame is over guys. So, with that, I‘m going to say ’bye’ for the very last time. I love you all. Thank you all and I hope you live long, very happy lives. This is me saying peace, love.”
Watch the whole of McLean’s last video:
You may have noticed the T-shirt McLean was wearing. L.I.F.E. — Leukemia Ironman Fundraiser for Eric — is a non-profit started to support McClean and his needs. Since this morning, as the video has gone viral, L.I.F.E.’s website has been down. Within just one hour Wednesday morning, the video went from more than 18,000 hits on YouTube to more than 78,000.
Twitter has been helping the video go viral as well. Here are just a few of the tweets:
(visit The Blaze to view them and the many comments left by readers)
Learn more about McLean’s brave story here.
Editor’s note: We‘ll update this post with more information about McLean’s history and photos once the L.I.F.E. website becomes available again.
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For Dave…
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